TODAY'S FAMILY & KIDS ACTIVITIES IN MANHATTAN-FEB 4

The options for finding fun family activities in New York City are limitless. Below we've compiled the best of today's events. Whether your family prefers music and museums or theater and libraries, check out today's family activities in Manhattan. Making plans for next weekend? Take a glance at the NY Metro Parents' calendar!
Want to see what's going on next weekend or when you have those few days off? Check out the NY Metro Parents' calendar!

THIS SHOW IS NOW SOLD OUT.
This multicultural version of Cinderella features interwoven tales from China, India, and Africa. In one of the stories there is a magic fish instead of a fairy godmother and in another Cinderella is a boy. You'll also meet a flying cow, an enchanted frog, a talking parrot, and a wise wizard. Following each performance there will be a Q&A with the cast members. Reservations required.

The New York Transit Museum presents its Holiday Train Show at its store in Grand Central, with a brand new layout wherein model Metro-North and New York Central trains depart from a miniature Grand Central on their way North on a 34' long, two-level "O" gauge layout.
Vintage model trains from the museum's collection will also be on display joined by stunning New York Central railroad posters harkening back to Grand Central's heyday as the nexus of long distance and commuter train travel.

Off Broadway Family Theatre presents an adaptation of C.S. Lewis' beloved tale from his Chronicles of Narnia series. In this creative adaptation, two actors play eight characters, both human and animal. Travel to Narnia through the old wardrobe with the four Pevensie children, and get swept into their journey to stand with the great lion Aslan against the evil White Witch. She has placed the land of Narnia under enchantment and now it is always winter, but never Christmas. Audiences will be drawn into the theater's "magic circle," where children and animals, fauns and mythical creatures come to life in this enchanting tale.

Take refuge from winter by retreating to Tropical Paradise - a showcase of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory's permanent collection, including orange-yellow crotons, fuchsia bromeliads, and rosy-red hibiscus. You'll feel like you are on vacation without leaving New York.
View The Beauty of Paradise: A Photographic Tour during regular Garden hours. See a photographic display of tropical paradises around the world. Learn about plants and flowers found in tropical climes through a display of exceptional photographs from the prestigious International Garden Photographer of the Year Contest, of which the Botanical Garden is the US partner. Access additional details about the displayed photographs via your smartphone.
Inside the cozy Discovery Center in the Everett Children's Adventure Garden, kids of all ages can take a closer look at the differences between tropical and temperate plants in Tropical Discoveries and Wintertime Wonders. Pot up a specimen plant to take home and compare its characteristics with foliage in your neighborhood; make bark rubbings, count tree rings, and head back into the winter garden with a field notebook to discover the vital sparks of life that lie just below the surface of this quiet season. On view January 19-February 24.
Please confirm hours on the day of your visit by calling 718-817-8700.

An opportunity for children with physical disabilities ages 7 and older and their able-bodied siblings or friends to participate in a drop-off art class together.
This program is intended to make the museum's art-making accessible to all needs and provide an opportunity for siblings to spend time with each other and with peers who have similar experiences.If a child with a physical disability doesn't have a sibling to attend the session with him or her, the child may bring along a friend instead.
Each session offers a new workshop that is designed to meet the needs of the participants. This program is staffed with CMA teaching artists and a licensed occupational therapist(s).?This program is based on a class-like model in which the teaching artists and the OT work to facilitate the group experience, with a keen eye towards the special needs of the participants;?if your child requires dedicated one-on-one attention you should consider bringing a paraprofessional or other adult to help facilitate your child's experience.
Parents are encouraged to drop off their children, though they are welcome to stay if they wish or remain close by in another part of the museum.
To sign up for a session, discuss your child's needs with the program director in advance of the session. Contact Rachel for more information at rrapoport@cmany.org.

Based on the Newbery Honor-winning book by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by Hudson Talbott, this new musical, with music and lyrics by Tyrone L. Robinson, a book by Melody Cooper, and direction by Melissa Maxwell, follows one girl in modern-day Brooklyn as she explores her family's past. As seven generations of women pass on the family tradition of the "show way", or a secret quilt to freedom, from slavery to today, they also pass on their strength and determination to be free.
In "Show Way," Toshi Georgiana looks for a beloved family heirloom. As she searches, the generations of women who came before her, from slaves who sewed paths to freedom to civil rights marchers, pass on their stories, and teach Toshi to reconnect with the past and celebrate the possibilities of the future.
The "Show Way" cast includes David Andino, Ashley Lynette Brown, Adiagha Faizah, Norma Hernandez, Christine Lee, Danea Robinson, and Donnell E. Smith. The crew includes Director Melissa Maxwell, Set Designer Kyle Dixon, Costume Designer Amanda Jenks, Lighting Designer Josh Bradford, Musical Director Mike Pettry, and Production Stage Manager Emily Rolston.

This dramatic multimedia installation focuses on Grand Central Terminal's century-long lifespan and reveals how the iconic building, on the verge of changing the way New Yorkers travel over the next decade, shaped modern New York and determines its future.
Presented by the New York Transit Museum.

R&R Saturdays are free at the JCC. Make your Shabbat afternoon special and share in your community. Workshops, art, yoga, meditation, food, music, study sessions, film, creative art projects, spa experiences, and both indoor and outdoor play. There are programs for both children and adults. All are welcome.

Spy: The Secret World of Espionage is a new exhibition launching in May at Discovery Time Square. This interactive exhibition is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to step inside the real world of intelligence, showcasing real items from the actual vault of the CIA. Encounter real stories and actual gadgets revealed for the first time ever from the CIA vault. Experience what it's like to be a spy firsthand by creating your own disguises, altering your voice, and navigating laser beams. Plus, gain exciting new insights into how intelligence really works: how science and technology play a major role, and discover how the men and women who do this kind of work shape the course of history every day.

Playtime with Sammie and Tudie is a 'mommy and me' style class. The interactive class includes themed week such as ducks, butterflies, teddy bears, fish, and dinosaurs. Great for ages 1 to 3 1/2 years. Come by the class once or buy a multiple class package. Monday and Wednesday 10:30am.

A new Sunday matinee series of classic films for kids and their families beginning Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013 at 11am. The series will run for 13 Sundays, January 6 through March 31; all tickets will be $7.
Programmed by Bruce Goldstein, Film Forum's Director of Repertory Programming, Film Forum Jr. will introduce children (ages 5 and above) and teenagers to silent and sound classics, as well as modern classics. All movies will be shown in glorious 35mm prints or equally glorious DCP (no Blu-rays and no DVDs).
Film Forum Jr. will kick off with the 1956 French classic THE RED BALLOON. Turn your kids on to the joie du cinema français, as petit garcon Pascal Lamorisse and mind-of-its-own balloon rouge share dialogue-less adventures through the old Belleville section of Paris. One of the most celebrated short films of all time, and winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes, THE RED BALLOON will be presented in the miracle of “Balloon-O-Rama.”
GERALD MCBOING-BOING, winner of the 1950 Academy Award for Best Animated Short, will screen with THE RED BALLOON. Adapted from a story by Dr. Seuss and produced by animation legend John Hubley, GERALD MCBOING-BOING is the story of a little boy who speaks through sound effects instead of language. A GERALD MCBOING-BOING sound-alike contest will follow the show.
Full schedule available at www.filmforum.org/ffjr

Back by popular demand, this stop in New York City will serve as the exhibition's return to North America after a yearlong international tour. Since it was last here in 2011, the exhibition has been updated significantly with artifacts from the film series, including the final film.
The 14,000-square-foot experiential exhibition includes dramatic displays inspired by the Hogwarts film sets and authentic costumes and props from the films. Fans will have a firsthand view of hundreds of artifacts displayed in settings inspired by the film sets including the Great Hall, Hagrid's hut, the Gryffindor common room, and more.
In addition to the hundreds of original props and costumes from the Harry Potter films displayed during the exhibition's first time in New York, original artifacts from the series finale, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, will be on display for the first time, including a new vignette dedicated to the epic battle of Hogwarts.

Larry Lederman, landscape photographer and member of NYBG's Board of Advisors, has spent years walking the garden grounds to observe and photograph trees and vistas in all seasons and at all times of day. Lush images featuring their diversity and visual impact are on view in the gallery space.
The New York Botanical Garden is home to more than 30,000 trees, some in woodland, some in groves, and some standing in solitary majesty. Magnificent Trees is lavishly illustrated with photographs by Larry Lederman and accompanied by descriptions by Todd A. Forrest, Arthur Ross vice president for horticulture and living collections at the garden. An authority on the diverse species present across the 250-acre landscape, Forrest details their fascinating histories -- from their vital role in Native American life and culture to their function in neutral territory during the Revolutionary War. Lederman captures their grandeur in hundreds of stunning images and portrays their diversity with photographs that reveal the trees in myriad fascinating perspectives: in landscape views that convey the garden's genius loci; portraits illustrating the architecture and profound visual impact of select trees; remarkable details of flowers, fruit, leaves, and bark; and impressionistic images, abstract in character yet beautiful in composition.

In the late 18th century, British artists developed the large-scale panorama, which became a popular form of entertainment in Europe and the United States. The Hudson River Museum's exhibition, "The Panoramic River: the Hudson and the Thames," explores the panoramic vista as the ideal expression for a new, all-embracing way of seeing the landscape that influenced how the public and artists perceived it as well. By the early 19th century, painters such as Robert Havell Jr. worked to express this panoramic perspective in their choice and depiction of vistas. Havell and other artists in the exhibition such as Thomas Cole, Jasper Cropsey, and John Kensett, favored the chain of cities, suburbs, and countryside along these two rivers, where horizontal planes and historical associations gave form to both artistic and cultural expression.
"The Panoramic River" features loans from museums, galleries, and private collections. Museums lending paintings include: Baltimore Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Fenimore Art Museum, The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College; Maryland State Archives; Metropolitan Museum of Art; The New-York Historical Society; and Princeton University Art Museum.
"The Panoramic River" is organized by Hudson River Museum co-curators Bartholomew Bland, Director of Curatorial Affairs, and Laura Vookles, Chief Curator of Collections. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with additional essays by Pat Hardy, Curator of Paintings, Prints and Drawings, Museum of London, and Geoff Snell, Doctoral Student, University of Sussex and the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England.
The exhibition and the accompanying catalogue have been made possible by a generous grant from the Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts, Inc. On view through May 19, 2013.

Celebrate the joys of Shabbat with the Shababa™ community in this intergenerational family Shabbat experience including singing, art projects, playground visits, holiday themed celebrations, and more. Saturdays, ongoing, 10:30am-12pm.

Let your child explore and expand their connection to Shabbat, Jewish holidays, and Jewish values in a warm, informal communal setting. The staff will engage them through creative and traditional approaches. Saturdays, ongoing, 10:30am-12pm.

The Jazz Standard Youth Orchestra (JSYO), which includes about 25 talented musicians between the ages of 11 and 18, burns through jazz classics while listeners enjoys Blue Smoke's brunch menu (lunch menu, kids menu, and full bar are also available). Jazz Standard donates $1 from each kid's menu item sold to Spoons Across America.

The Children's Museum of Manhattan is hosting 10-Foot Cops: The NYPD's Mounted Unit, a glimpse into the history and daily lives of officers from New York City's Mounted Police Force. Opening January 26 and running through May 27, the exhibit is on loan from the New York City Police Museum, which is temporarily closed due to damage sustained from Hurricane Sandy. NYCPM will reopen in the Spring of 2013.
Since its origins in the 19th century, the NYPD's Mounted Police has been regarded as one of New York City's most elite units. Unique, highly visible, and known by their colorful nickname, 10-Foot Cops, these officers are involved in all aspects of policing the city.
10-Foot Cops uses more than 40 original artifacts to explore the lives the men, women, and horses at the heart of this mounted unit. Children can have their picture taken sitting in a saddle and see uniforms, paintings, historic photographs and illustrations. The exhibit also includes a replica of a NYPD horse stable and shorts from the 1940 NYPD film "Training Police Horses" and a clip from the Department's "Inside the NYPD" from 2007. Visitors will come away with an appreciation of the training and dedication required of both police officer and horse alike from the story of the mounted unit's rich history and their continuing day-to-day policing operations in parks, on city streets and at parades and public demonstrations.

Food is the one thing that unites every culture, race, and generation: over one billion people work in agriculture and every person eats. Food is used as a social ritual, a holiday tradition, a symbol of comfort, a gift, and an excuse to catch up with friends. The curators of this exhibition hope it will encourage visitors (both grown ups and kids) to examine a thing we all do everyday -- eat! -- and think about everything that goes into that act more consciously. The exhibition touches on a lot of serious issues such as the scarcity of food predicted for the future, alternatives to avoid that shortage, and childhood obesity.

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